Story+1988-03-14+Cleveland,+OH

‘‘Got my car out back, you ready to go ?.....”
 * 14.03.88 Cleveland, Ohio, intro to ‘Tunnel of Love’**

‘‘Man, I thought spring was supposed to be almost here.....somebody forgot to tell Cleveland.....gonna take a little walk in the park here anyway....hey, hey, man, what you doing ? good to see you, how´s it going ?.....ain’t seen you in a little while down here....you’re looking good, that’s a nice suit, it’s nice, you know....what you been doing with yourself ?....been working (?) you got married, you been married for a while now....what you got ? oh-oh, oh-oh, we got the little Big Man here now....got some baby pictures (chuckles) look at this little guy....he´s got a little saxophone, he’s got a little sharkskin suit (chuckles) he looks good, he’s handsome.....that´s nice (chuckles) how old’s this guy ? he’s three, three years old....there’s a lot of little babies running up here now....in about 15 years there’s gonna be another version of the E Street Band....(chuckles) man, that´s nice, that´s nice.....man, we used to sit on this bench.....10, 12 years, 1974, 1975 (?)....right about the time when the girls used to get out of work from that big office building on the corner, you know, me and Clarence used to meet down here every day, we’d have like a little sandwich....peanutbutter-and-jelly, make a little lunch out here and we’d wait for the girls to come out of this building, we’d have a couple of our albums with us.....it’s about that time now, man, I think they....hey, here they come.....but you know for some reason they don´t look any older....do I look any older to you ?....you don´t look a day older to me.....check this one, the one in the, in the blue skirt, check, check her out....(chuckles)(?) Miss, Miss (chuckles) man, I tell you, I remember I was with you the night that you met your wife .....Clarence used to come back to my room every night, even to tell me that he had met some girl that he´d fallen in love with and was gonna marry....or to introduce some girl to me that I should fall in love with and get married (chuckles)....but Clarence used to say that about every girl that he met, that was the only problem, you know....but that night that you.....you met Tina, man, that was, that was was right (chuckles).... remember what it felt like the first time that somebody that....that you´re, that you’re interested in comes walking in the room, you know....you’re watching how they walk and....making sure your hair’s just right.....you know, kind of feels like, uh, in New Jersey, it kind of feels like this....come on Richie.....you ask her for a dance or something. get that phonenumber....that´s nice....well, getting close to dinnertime now ....I gotta be home 6.30 or I don´t eat, man.....then I gotta be in bed by 11 o’clock, that’s when she goes to bed....it’s good to see you, I’ll be seeing you, alright....”
 * 14.03.88 Cleveland, Ohio, intro to ‘All That Heaven Will Allow’**

‘‘On our last tour through the States.....we got down to Texas....there was a lot of people down there from up north, from Detroit, Pittsburg, right up around this area.... who´d all gone South looking for work in the oil fields, when the price of oil dropped, they got down there and there was no jobs....they had no place to go, no money....no place to sleep, they´d be sleeping in tents out on the highway or in their cars at night.... with the police just telling ‘em to move on.....this is called ‘Seeds’....”
 * 14.03.88 Cleveland, Ohio, intro to ‘Seeds’**

‘‘So how you doing out there tonight ? (cheers)....that´s good....how’re you guys back there, alright ? (cheers)....that´s good....that´s nice.....whenever we.....are about to got out on tour, there always seems to be a night when we....sit around after rehearsals.... and we start telling old stories from....from the early days.....I get to tell ‘em.....I’ve told ‘em all about a hundred times but the band acts like they don´t notice (chuckles)... but it seems like even though we´ve all heard ‘em a lot, there´s something in telling ‘em that brings us close together again after we’ve been apart.....and uh, the past is a funny thing because the past does bind us all together....but it’s also dangerous because you can end up living there if you’re not careful.....and then it just holds you down.....you can’t go on and change and face what tomorrow brings....this next song, this is a song about a woman struggling to free herself from the part of her past that is holding her back.....from old dreams that....that allows the world to keep breaking her heart over and over again....she’s struggling to understand the importance of her own individual existence....and the importance of the life of her child....and it seems no matter where we go or what we become, the value of our own lives slips away from us from time to time....maybe we wonder what we’re doing here.....you know, I struggle with it all the time, I would guess that most people do....so this is a song about a woman.....fighting that fight.....”
 * 14.03.88 Cleveland, Ohio, intro to ‘Spare Parts’**

´´Oh yeah....this is a....shopping song, that´s what it is....window, uh....window shopping, that is....now, before the tour I gotta buy some new clothes and stuff.... go down to the mall and....you get them little tickets, you know, if you got three pairs of pants, you get a little number 3...go in the room....I hate trying pants on....”
 * 14.03.88 Cleveland, Ohio, intro to ‘You Can Look’**

´´Are you with me out there tonight ? (cheers)....then let me see your hands now .... that´s right....because I want to address a very important subject right now....what I wanna know is here in Cleveland tonight ....are there any brave men in the audience ? (cheers)....are there any macho men out there tonight ? (cheers)....because I’ve known men that would swim rivers, that would climb mountains, that would wrestle with a grizzly bear.....but there was one thing that those brave men were afraid of....there was one thing that scared those men to death and I’m gonna tell you what that one thing was.....what that one thing was was L....U...V, love, I’m talking about.....love scared ´em to death....and now women, girls, you out there ? (cheers)...I wanna hear you, girls (cheers)....because I’m talking to you too....I’ve known a lot of brave women..... women that would jump out of an airplane at 30,000 feet, women that would date the horn section in this band....but there was that one thing that those brave women were afraid of and that one thing was love....love scared ‘ee, when they got near it, they ran away like little babies....because love is a frightening thing.....now, I’m down here tonight because I´ve got a confession to make....I’ve got to lay my burden down and what I wanna say is....I have sinned !....that´s right.....I’ve sinned and I don´t need no Pat Robertson to forgive me....Pat Robertson can kiss my ass.....now, I don´t care who you bring down here, you can bring down Hulk Hogan, I’ll take him on, bring down George the Animal Steele, I’ll mess with him right here, bring down Andre the Giant, bring down the Road Warriors, bring down the Junkyard dog, they don’t scare me.... but what I’ve got to say is.....I ain’t afraid of those kinds of things....but what I´ve got to confess is.....I’m a coward.....when it comes to love....save me, boys.....”
 * 14.03.88 Cleveland, Ohio, intro to ‘I’m a Coward’**

‘‘I was reading the papers the other day.....came across this story....and what it was about was, uh.....was, uh.....”
 * 14.03.88 Cleveland, Ohio, intro to ‘Part Man Part Monkey’**

‘‘Thank you, this is uh.....this next song is a song I guess.....I’ve probably played here when I came here many years ago....and uh....I guess I’ve kind of grown up with it and it’s grown up with me.....and I guess every time, every tour we come out and I go to sing this song again.....and the words are the same and the music is the same but somehow it sort of opens up and gracefully lets in the years.....wrote this song when I was, uh....I was a young man, 24 years old (chuckles) I’m still a young man but I was a younger young man (chuckles)....sitting on the end of my bed in Long Branch, New Jersey.....and it’s a song about a guy and a girl that, uh, wanted to search for something better....I guess they wanted to see what sort of lies over that next hill....but uh, I guess time passes and you sort of end up realising that what you´re looking for really isn’t over that next hill but that it’s buried deep down inside you.....and if you search hard enough and if you work hard enough and if you were open....someday, I guess, you’d get around to that, that little place that feels like home to you....and that’s what this song is about, this song is about....a young man and a woman searching for their home.....it’s kept me pretty good company on my search, I hope it’s kept you good company on yours.....so let me dedicate it to you tonight with all my love.....”
 * 14.03.88 Cleveland, Ohio, intro to ‘Born to Run’**

‘‘Thanks, just wanna take a minute to thank everybody for coming down to the shows we did here in Cleveland, thank you......I’d also like to thank you for the long-time support that you´ve showed our band over the years....this is for you and your sweetie ....wishing you a safe trip through that tunnel of love.....”
 * 14.03.88 Cleveland, Ohio, intro to ‘Love Me Tender’**

‘‘We don’t care what time it is !.....it was then the hero got away with his girl, he started driving on down the highway and they went into this little club and as they walked into the little club, there was this little band on stage and the band leader said ‘One, two, three, four.....”
 * 14.03.88 Cleveland, Ohio, intro to ‘Detroit Medley’**

//Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi//